Pennies from Heaven

As I was walking from my car into the grocery store this afternoon I saw a penny lying on the pavement. I picked it up, and that started me thinking: What a country! The streets may not be paved with gold, but they are paved with copper clad zinc slugs!

Yes, I am one of those people that picks up pennies that other people have dropped. I know that most people will not bother. Not worth the effort, they say. Heck, obviously the people who were the owners of the coins didn’t think it was worthwhile to retrieve the pennies they dropped.

My feeling is that it is a worthwhile activity. Taking a second or two to bend down and gather money up off the street is a way of reminding myself of the importance of frugality. If I will expend the effort to bend down and pick up a penny, than I should work that much harder to save real money by avoiding unnecessary expenses and getting better deals.

In addition to being a physical reminder of the need for fiscal vigilance, a sort of metaphorical value, I also receive real value from this habit. They may only be pennies, but it’s still money, after all.

If it takes me two seconds to bend down, pick up the penny, and regain my stride, that works out to a pay rate of $18 per hour. My compensation at work is at a higher rate than that, but it’s more money than I would otherwise make while running errands.

This makes me curious about how much money I can actually pull off the streets. So as part of this blog, I am going to start keeping track of how many pennies I pick up. Last week, there was one in the parking lot at work, three coming out of the movie theater on Friday night, and then the one going into the grocery store this afternoon. So far I’m up to 5 cents.

Mmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t quit my day job just yet.